If you believe that God is calling you, what should you do?

Try to speak with your vicar or parish priest. Clergy are used to helping people hear God's call for them and should be able to help you to see if you want to be:

• A more confident Christian: click here for courses aimed to help you grown in confidence and understanding in your Christian faith;
• Equipped for further service: your vicar may ask you to meet with a:
  • Vocations Adviser who lives near you, and whose job it is to help you discern which might be the appropriate path for you. After this, you might be invited to a Vocations Workshop (formerly known as a Vocational Guidance Unit, or VGU). Workshops are held on a single day, usually a Saturday, in different places across the Diocese of Southwark. They provide an opportunity to talk and listen to others who also believe that may be calling them to public ministry. To get in touch with an Archdeaconry Vocations Adviser,  Click here for a Contact Form.
  • Please note that you must attend a VGU if you think God is calling you to some form of public ministry. Click here to go to a brief description of public ministries in the Diocese of Southwark.
• There are other forms of ministry too, such as that of churchwarden, other parish officer, servers, or of hospitality. In addition, people exercise ministry as, Church Army officers, Spiritual Directors and in the religious life. Follow the links below for more specific information about churchwarden, parish officer, the Servers’ Guild and Wychcroft (our Diocesan retreat house, for more information about the ministry of hospitality) and for more about discernment for Reader and SPA ministry.

Follow the external links below to find out more about:

For general and specific national information about ministry, click here to open an external link to the Church of England national website.